Pianoforte



UNITED sTATEs -PATENT oEEIoE.

EDVIN BROWN, OF BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS.

PIANOFORTE.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 1,014, dated November20, 1888; Reissued December 31, 1839, No. 19.

To all whom it may Cono-ern Be it known that I, EDWIN BnowN, of Boston,in the county of Suffolk and State of Massachusetts, have invented newand useful Improvements in Ijianofortes.

rIhese improvements, the principles thereof, the application of saidprinciples, by which the same may be distinguished from otherinventions, the manner of using the same, together with such parts,improvements or combinations, I claim to be my inventions, and hold tobe original and new, I have hereinafter set forth and described, whichdescription, taken in connection with the accompanying drawings, hereinreferred to, composes my specification.

Figures l, 2, 3, represent my improvements, Fig. 1 is a top View, Fig. 2is a front elevation, and Fig. 3, a view of theV underside or bottom ofthe piano forte.

The object of my invention is, to effect what is termed, the singlestring change of the hammers ,`without any lateral motion of thehammers, as has usually been the practice heretofore. It has beennecessary to fit and arrange these hammers, very nicely, in order toinsure their perfect action when changed from the double to the singlestring. By my improvement one of the strings of each note, is clamped orheld and thus prevented from vibrating, when the hammer strikes it. Theother being free will vibrate and produce the sound. The machinery bywhich I effect the above operation, may be described as follows:

A, A, A, Figs. 1, 2, 3, represent the frame work or body of the piano,constructed in the usual manner, or in any other way to suit thearrangement of my improvements.

a, 7), o, cl, e, jf, g, it, Fig. l, are the strings or wires which arestretched over the sounding board, in the usual manner, by beingattached to metallic pins, on the side and back of the piano, the latterbeing those by means of which the strings are strained or tuned.

B, B, Figs. 1, 9., is a long beam, constructed of wood o-r other propermaterial and eX- tending over the strings or wires. This beam hasdampers or cushions i 1, covered with wash leather or other suitablematerial, attached to its underside. C C is another beam of similarconstruction to B, B, eX-

tending under the strings, and placed a little in the rear of the upperbeam, lor farther toward the back of the piano, so that the cushions ordampers may always more effectually clamp the strings. This beam hasalso attached to it the dampers or cushions Z, m, similar to those abovementioned.- These beams are connected together by means of the compoundlevers no, op, q1", q r Figs. 1, 2, as represented therein, and are madeto slide up and down in guide grooves o o cut in the upright posts E, E,Figs. 1, 2, constructed of wood, iron or other suitable material. Thebeam C O is conv nected by means 0f the arms or uprights, F, Gr, Fig. 2,with a shaft D, D, underneath the piano, the journals of which rest andmove in bearings attached to the underside of the framework, as seen inFig. 3. This shaft is operated by the lever pedal st, which has afulcrum in the bottom of the leg or fixture II, projecting from theunderside of the piano. Vhen these levers are acted upon the beams B, B,C O, together with the cushions or dampers 70, lm, are brought towardeach other, and press between them or confine the strings ZJ, o, f, g,thus checking their vibrations when struck by the hammers and leavingonly the strings o, (I, e, t, to produce the sounds.

It will be necessary to observe also, that the hammers strike againstthe strings, directly behind the places, where they are pressed upon bythe cushions or dampers of the lower beam, thus efliectually preventingany vibration.

A great advantage consequent on the arrangement above described, isdiminishing the liability in the instrument of getting out of tune, asby this improvement, all the strings are equally acted upon by thehammers, whereas in other modes, particularly, when a lateral movementis given toq the hammers, to change them from the double to the singlestring, some of the strings are struck more than the rest, so that theinstrument soon becomes out of tune. This improvement has likewiseanother advantage over other arrangements for the same purpose, inasmuchas it can be applied to the smaller sized pianos in which the scales aremore compact than 1n those, 1n which the other modes are adopted. Thisarrangement also supersedes the necessity of using what are termedmutes, in tuning the instrument.

rThe manner in which the beams and levers are operated may be describedas follows: rlhe musician bears his foot on one end t, of thelever-pedal s, t, Fig. 3 which presses the connecting rod u Fig. 2,against the arm i; oit' the shaft D, D, thereby raising it together withthe arms w, fr. To the sides of the arms w, are attached by means ofpins, which allow them to move easily, the upright rods F, Gr, the topsof which press against the bottom of the beam C C thus raising it in theguide grooves a b. Near the top of the upright rod G is attached, in aproper manner, one end n o1 the lever no, op, so that when the rod Gr israised it depresses the end 0 of the lever, and at the same time, bringsdown one end of the beam B, B in the guide grooves a b, by means of thearm Op of the compound lever, which is attached to it at p. The otherend is brought down, at the same time, and in the same manner by thecompound lever gr, g r', as shown in Fig. 2. There is a spring cattached to the underside of the frame, as represented in the drawings,or in any other suitable manner, which spring causes the shaft D, D, andthe parts connected thereto, to return to their original position, whenthe pressure of the foot is removed from the pedal, and thus relievesthe strings, so that the hammers shall cause all to vibrate.

Having thus fully described and set forth the nature of my improvementsI shall claim in the same as follows.

1.The arrangement or combination oi the parts together, substantially,as described.

2. Clamping the strings between cushions or dampers, situated withregard to each other, and aHiXed on bars or beams in the manner hereinabove set forth.

8. rfhe arrangement of the machinery, which in connection with the beamsB B, C C gives motion to said beams when the pedal is pressed down bythe musician.

In testimony that the above is a true description of my said inventionsand improvements have hereto set my hand this twenty first day of Julyin the year eighteen hundred and thirty eight.

EDWIN BROWN.

Vitnesses R. H. EDDY, SILAs ALLEN, Jr.

[FIRST PmNTED 1914.]

